Willow combed his own hair with his fingers, still attractive despite the unkemptness. “Whatever, like you could beat me in a fight. Isn’t Badger the only one who has to train?”
She pulled a rag from her satchel and started to polish one of her blades. “Make no mistake, all of us will be doing some sort of work, whether you want to or not. We’ll need strength if we’re going to enter the God Tree and save Pyrite.”
“I thought this was going to be more of a stealth mission.” I said, blipping in and out of the Unseen, for effect.
She stayed serious, fastening the pieces of her armor. “It is, but Warriors always prepare for the worst. Pir, can you help me tighten this?”
I fell back on my bedding and let out a burst of air. “I just hope our parents understand. If I thought my moms were worried before…”
“Like you said earlier, I wonder if they expected something like this,” suggested Piranha, expertly adjusting the armor. “They had to know Pyrite was related to the king.”
The trapdoor opened, interrupting our conversation. The shaggy black head of either Teal or Tungsten climbed through. “Sorry, I was coming to watch the sunrise. Do you mind?”
“Not at all!” Willow flew over and helped him through the door. “Where’s the other one? I thought you came as a set.”
The single twin had a wicked smile. Both Teal and Tungsten were identical, down to the cut of their hair, but distinctly different expressions and eyes made it easy to tell them apart at first glance. Although, it wasn’t as easy as I thought.
“We do.” Teal-or-Tungsten sat cross legged in a sunken patch of grass, letting the patches of sun wash over his face. “I wonder if you can tell who I am?”
“That’s easy,” Piranha chirped. “You’re Teal.”
This twin had the toothy, unending smile of Teal, but his serious, unmoving eyes made me hesitate. Sharp and Willow guessed ‘Teal’, but my vote was for Tungsten.
“Wrong!” he said, pointing his thumb down and sticking out his tongue.
“Who’s wrong?” Sharp asked. “Badger or us?”
He didn’t answer, only looked up into the branches. The oranges and pinks of the dawn cut through the black leaves and white wood, creating a peaceful glow in the Meadow Blue. I took it in for a second, but when I looked back, somehow both twins were present. Willow jumped ten feet in the air.
“Gah!” he exclaimed. “Where did you come from?”
They laughed in sync. The trapdoor was closed, and much too far away. Was it possible the other twin was already up here? Next to each other, it was clear who was who.
“Never gets old,” Teal crooned, high fiving his brother.
“Sorry if we scared you,” Tungsten apologized. He didn’t seem to find it as funny.
“There’s no way you could have appeared so fast unless…” Piranha gasped all the air out of the room, slapping both hands to their face. “Unless you aren’t two people!”
I blinked in confusion, and before I knew it, one of the twins was gone again.
“Cut my wheat!” Willow whistled, shaking his head in disbelief. “That’s something new!”
“Is this a Divine thing?” I grumbled. Splitting into two…the thought disturbed me.
“Sure is. My real name is like Gold-and-Silver, a compound. Teal-and-Tungsten.” He punctuated the name with jabbing hand movements. This new person was a mix of both personalities, his eyes now heterochromatic, sharp blue and steel gray.
“Are you telling me you split in two when you ate the Wild Fruit!?” Willow floated down from the air, bouncing with jubilee. “How did it feel?”
Sharp jostled him. “Willow! Don’t be rude!”
Teal-and-Tungsten shrugged and waved a hand. “It’s alright! I like to tell people! I didn’t even come up here to watch the sunrise, I came here to mess with you! When I took the Wild Fruit, I was removed from my body, and I found myself looking at…well me. That was about the face I was making too.” He pointed at my grimace.
“Sorry,” I blurted, distracted by the smell of sizzling garlic wafting through the trap door. “I know how it feels to have your life change so quickly. Were you scared?”
“At first, but it didn’t take long to adjust.” He entwined his fingers and then separated them. “It felt like my brain split into two different parts of myself, but still worked as a whole. When I’m split, I know the thoughts of each consciousness.”
Willow whistled again. “That might just be the coolest Divine thing I’ve seen so far.”
“Really?” he scoffed. “Did you forget about your Reaper friend?”
The hunger pang became something else. I wanted to forget, but I couldn’t. I had the Reaper’s power.
“Hundreds of people have had that power throughout history,” Willow waved his hand dismissively, giving me a sneaky wink. “But I bet no one has had yours, T-N-T.”
My friend had a knack for changing the tone. With a grin, Teal-and-Tungsten split again. I could never explain what I saw. Something must have happened, but I couldn’t hold it in my memory.
“That’s probably true,” acknowledged Tungsten monotonously. “You should head down for breakfast with us. The kitchen is on the fourth floor.”
“Race ya!” Teal jumped through the trapdoor, but only Willow responded to his call.
On the fourth floor, Marrow, Mercury, and the doctor had cooked everyone a dish of roasted mushrooms and purplish eggs, which tasted splendid despite their unusual appearance.
Marrow smiled for the first time, making his craggy face look less severe. "Consider this an apology for us getting off on the wrong foot yesterday. You can eat eggs, right?”
I blinked at him, mouth already full, until I realized he was addressing Piranha.
“Yes, thank you,” they chirped. “I’ll take some of those red mushrooms too, if you got ‘em.”
